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Kevin Baker's book is here!
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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Just so SOMEBODY says it: Nelson Mandela never set foot in this Yankee Stadium

Not trying to be a crab here. I'm fine with the Yankees saluting Nelson Mandela's 1990 visit to the great cathedral of baseball, the former Yankee Stadium, the House that Ruth Built, the park they razed.

The new stadium is located in the Bronx and carries the same name. But Mickey, Babe, Thurman, Catfish, the Iron Horse, JFK, Pope John and President Mandela never set eyes on it. The one they visited was viewed by the Yankees as a tear-down.  

No big thing here, keep moving, everybody, there's nothing to see, I'm not whining, I'm just saying... as the Yankees take their self-congratulatory lap in the glow of Mandela's memorials...

Next summer, when they celebrate Mandela's historic visit with a marker, it won't represent a place he actually visited. And if the Yankees care so much about that legacy stuff - well - I guess they didn't in 2005, eh?

3 comments:

Mike said...

Amen, Duque.

Anonymous said...

I agree with your point 100%.

But I'm dumb.

So I gotta ask:

What happened in 2005?

el duque said...

2005 was the year when they basically set the course to end the old Yankee Stadium.